While wound healing is a normal biological process, many factors can interfere with that process, including: oxygenation, infection, age, stress, diabetes, obesity, medications, alcoholism, smoking and nutrition. For many people, like Liburd, specialized wound care can mean a narrow escape from losing a limb.

“We’re in the limb-salvage business,” said Blane Shatkin, MD, medical director of the Memorial Center for Wound Healing. “We’re the gold standard when it comes to healing wounds. We take a multidisciplinary approach. It’s not just about the wound or the hole in the patient’s foot. It’s about caring for the whole patient.”

The comprehensive outpatient treatment program at the Memorial Center for Wound Healing specializes in the prevention and treatment of chronic, non-healing wounds. The center’s multidisciplinary team of wound care specialists consists of plastic surgeons, podiatrists, general surgeons, internists, and two board-certified hyperbaric doctors. They work together using sophisticated therapies and effective medication to create individualized treatment plans based on the patient’s needs.

Dr. Shatkin and his team of experts treated Liburd with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, a treatment option for problem wounds, which takes place in transparent sealed hyperbaric chamber. The patient lays inside the chamber, breathing 100 percent oxygen, while blood flow transfers the extra oxygen to the wound. Liburd also had a series of human skin substitutes grafted to his wound, which has now shrunk to about 1 inch.

“I got my life back,” Liburd said. “If I’d gone to him earlier, I probably would have been healed already. Dr. Shatkin and his nurses – they are a beautiful team. They worked on my foot, and day by day, it has healed. It’s a million times better today.”